The present disclosure relates to a driver assistance system for displaying surroundings of a vehicle. More specifically, the present disclosure is directed to display the surroundings of a vehicle from a viewpoint above the vehicle.
There are vehicle display systems available that show a birds-eye-view of surroundings of the vehicle during a parking situation. The image presented to the driver is a reconstructed image from exterior cameras. Cameras are placed, for example, in the front, in the side view mirrors and the rear of the vehicle. The reconstruction image processing algorithm usually assumes all objects are lying flat on the ground. This method causes distortion to images that are above ground level. Vehicles parked adjacent to the vehicle equipped with a birds-eye- or top-view camera system appear very distorted in the displayed image. This distortion can make it very hard for the driver to be able to clearly identify an object in the displayed image. Even if he is able to recognize a possible object in the image he might be unable to identify the dimensions of the object, the correct distance or the shape of the object. The value and acceptance of using a top-view-camera system in a vehicle is therefore negatively affected.